My last days–And back to San Diego

With two days to spend in Christchurch until my flight out, I walked much and saw various things. The destruction from the earthquake is pretty severe. Many buildings (why do they call it a “building” when it is already built?) are still heaps of rubble. Cracks in the sidewalk and street are abundant. On and on I walked many kilometers. I went to McDonalds to check my email on their free wifi, nothing from you. Then, it was on to Hagley Park. I had been to this park at different times; a nice place. I had seen that this big park had various parts hidden away where I could put out my sleeping bag and snooze for the night (thanks again for the bag, Miguel.) You see, because of the loss of the money I had things are getting tight and I need to save, plus, it would be a fun adventure to sleep out in the park like a homeless person. Come to think of it, my house is up for sale now and I could be truly homeless soon.

As I was walking through the park I saw a group of tents, the Occupy Movement was in town. I talked with some of them and it was difficult to see what their main objectives were. In my travels I had seen a few different encampments of this movement. Were they getting any results from there demonstrations? What did they want to change? Was this just a bunch of men and women who like to camp out in the city? In talking with a few of them things were a little confused, but sounded like their major gripe was the payment difference between the top people and the workers, a fair gripe. Yet, it seemed more like these people liked more to camp-out then to apply themselves toward the cause. Rather than just waiting for someone to come up and talk, they could approach people on the street and in cars to get the word out.

Mike, an American, had been living in New Zealand for a number of years. He had gotten fed-up with the US and how things were run. He is not really a part of the occupy movement, just kind of hangs out with the movement sometimes. Because it was cold and I didn’t really want to stay with the occupy group in a tent, I asked him if he had a spare couch I could occupy for the night, he graciously said yes. Living in a nice place, we entered. Two rooms of the house have many books, he has a massive library. A smart guy, a new friend is met. He told me he had most of these books shipped from Chicago, where he is originally from. Mike is working as an environmental engineer, yet had time off now. He drove me to parts of Christchurch that had extensive damage.  Huge boulders blocking the road, many abandoned homes, people with many losses. Last night Mike learned to juggle, seemed to like his new skill. Thanks much for the ride to the airport, Mike.

Right now it is 7pm, Mike left me off at about 5pm.  I’ve been reading and writing this to you. Before I came I looked on a map and there is some park land near the airport. My flight is not until 6:45 tomorrow morning. I didn’t want to ask Mike for a ride here that early, so I had planned to lay out my sleeping bag away from the airport at the park, but I think I will just stay up all night until I get my flight in the morn. I’ll let you know how it goes.

It ended up that I stayed over-night in the airport. I met Teresa, from Germany, who was also staying the night until her flight tomorrow. We sort of supported each other in this. There were some couch like things that we got some shut eye while laying out, but guards showed up and said we couldn’t lay there. They showed me another location where people where sleeping on the carpeted floor. I laid down and slept for a time, probably got two hours last night, tonight is the flight to the US over-night, I expect I won’t sleep much then, either. I’m sad that I will never see Teresa again in my life. Like I wrote, people come into and out of our life so much, I want to remain friends with all, sad to say, it won’t happen. People fade out except for the memory.

I figured out what must have happened to that envelop with about $3000 in it. On the last day in Queenstown I had ask the manager of the hostel if he would lock up my suitcases while I went for a walk. I believe he had seen me when I got money out to pay for the room. He seemed like a great guy, I even taught him to juggle. Before that time I had taken that bag everywhere with me. Later when I saw the envelope was gone I traced when I had gone earlier and also asked him about the loss, he said no he didn’t know what happened to it. I can’t trust anyone anymore (except for you, perhaps.) In the future I will keep all my important stuff in a waist belt and have no worries anymore. It’s so sad that there are so many people who will take personal items from you, something I could never do.

And now I am writing to you from 33,000 feet up, since I’m no longer in a foreign country, I no longer have to use the metric system, but that is a much better way to measure. I just discovered something that made me quite angry. I had a small bathroom “kit” (no, not me) and I noticed it was missing. When I went through US customs while in Australia she took everything out of my bag looking carefully for ??  She ended up putting my toothpaste in a clear plastic bag and handed me that. I didn’t see that she kept the bathroom bag, she didn’t care. Yes, I will hijack a plane with a small tube of toothpaste and a four inch toothbrush. I hate idiot people who don’t think and just do—like the cops who took me away to be put in jail. She could have at least told me she was taking it. Now there is no way to go back and retrieve it, boy! Yes, I will be able to put another together, but this loss I am taking worse then the $3000 gone. Yikes, they’re all after me (I hope you aren’t, though.)  I try and do the right thing and all is get is this junk.

Something else I was embarrassed to tell you about and wasn’t going to.  Recently at a place I was staying at I had my things laid out in the room I was in. I’m fairly certain I had my camera with me there. I am not certain, but there was another guy staying there. He’s a good person from what I could tell, even taught him to juggle, I would never accuse him of . . . but . . . it’s like I have a sign on me saying, take from Kit, he’s easy. And, hope you can tell, I am not stupid, I am careful with my stuff. I guess I just have to be extra precautious. The thing is, I trust people. Perhaps you can straighten me out, there are more good people in the world then bad¸ yes? just look at you.  I’m feeling like I want to build my tiny house on wheels which will have solar for electric and a rain water collection system, then park my new home in the mountains and live away from people for a time (of course, you are welcome anytime for a visit, I will have a spare bed.)

Right now I am watching a movie while flying at 600 miles per hour.  In this movie a man is falsely accused and jailed. Seeing the jail cells, seeing the prisoners all dressed the same, understanding how it is to be in there. Being in jail was the very worst month of my life. Seeing those people in jail made me so angry. The time I had to spend there was so damaging to me, I can’t begin to explain. Much punishment for my body, much punishment for my mind. This is a life-long thing that changed my thoughts about life and the future.

As I write I get angrier and angrier. Of course, my broken family comes to mind. My daughters are not connecting with me. Still never heard a good reason Mary Ellen left me. She closes up and will not communicate in any way with some people (actually many) who she deems not qualified to be associated with her any more. So, I am on that list of non-communication, never imagined I would be. I just don’t understand people sometimes, she could, at least, be friendly with me. Also, I thought I had a friendship with Carter and then he turned against me, that was a very strange thing for me. As I wrote before, people come into your life and go out of your life, I just sometimes wonder why, perhaps you can explain to me . . . ?

Just asked and was told the flight is not even half way yet, already many hours flying. It’s funny, I am not at all tired, even with no sleep last night.  For me it looks like I will only get a couple hours sleep in 60 hours, curious on how it will feel, I’ll let you know.

Battery life is getting quite low at this point, I will have to complete this later. Funny how the word “complete” means finish and also the entire essence of something. The English language needs to be re-written, it is so complicated and old. With computers we could design and construct a language that would be much much better.

So, they allowed me back in the US, again. Right now I am charging my battery while typing to you. I miss the Australian and New Zealand accents, now it is Mexican and Americanish accents I hear. I am finishing this up at my mom’s now.

Today in San Diego I went to have a Mexican lunch, about three bucks. Usually in America I am used to $2 to $5 a meal. In OZ and NZ I was paying $10 to $15 (New Zealand dollar) a meal. So, big difference.

Write you again soon>>>>>>Kit